The People Can Save Kathmandu

By Yug Bahadur

There was a time when Kathmandu was one of the most unique places in the world, having both natural beauty and immense cultural wealth. Those who were fortunate enough to either come here or live in this place at that period saw the best of this ancient City called the “Abode of the Gods”.

But with a growing population, Kathmandu gradually started to change.

Most observers say that the real change in Kathmandu started to take place at the beginning of the Eighties, when there were political changes, and also a different approach to life started taking shape. They indicate that things started to change with corruption taking root in the then political structure.

To cite the good things of the City, first of all, it was not a crowded place. Unless there was a much awaited football match or some local festival taking place, you hardly saw a crowd worth mentioning.

If you talk to any middle-aged person now who had lived in the Kathmandu at that time, they will nostalgically talk of the clean air, the traffic free roads and the abundance of greenery and wide open spaces.

Places like Koteswor, Maitidevi, Baneswor and even Chabel were unbelievably quiet areas. It is difficult to imagine now that those areas had acres and acres of green fields where according to the season, one saw vegetables, paddy, corn and wheat being planted.

Can anyone believe that just twenty years back silver trouts swam in the Bishnumati river? Even Samakhusi, a sprawling mass of unplanned construction now, was a vast field where one frequently saw men with guns hunting pigeons and doves.

Yet, we cannot cry over spilt milk. The task may be difficult, but it is not that the City cannot be managed.

For example, it was unimaginable to think that the smoke belching “Vikram” tempos would vanish one day.

The fact that they were the most popular modes of transport made them virtually indispensable. It is exactly this popular will that is needed to solve the other maladies.

For example, every one just keeps on complaining of the piling garbage on the streets here. The media is full of pictures of the smelly waste and others lambast the Kathmandu Metropolitan Corporation. Yes, it is the responsibility of the municipality to clear the garbage, but who creates the waste everyday?

The people here will have to learn to make efforts to make better the place where we all live. Government regulations alone are not sufficient to do away with the ills that everyone complains about.

Even in the garbage clearing issue, the work of the municipality workers would be a lot easier, first, if the people disposed off waste only at the given hours. One can see residents nonchalantly throwing bags of waste right after the Corporation truck clears up the garbage from different areas.

No one also makes any effort to separate the wastes, as has been recommended by the authorities. One can see plastic, glass, vegetables and even chicken dressing thrown all in one huge heap. With just a little bit of effort from the residents themselves, the City could be a lot cleaner place and it would be the people themselves who would benefit.

It may not be possible to make Kathmandu what it was before. But we can make the best of what it is. The blue skies are still there above us, the green hills still protect us from all sides and the monuments and temples bless us with their presence. It is only the people who live here that will have to make efforts to maintain the City’s sanctitiy. If we do it, it will be for us all and if we don’t we will be slowly killing one of the best places on earth.